Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgment at Nuremberg. 1961 United Artists.
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Werner Klemperer, William Shatner
Director: Stanley Kramer
Available at Amazon.

A fictionalized film account of the post World War II Nuremberg Trials, with an all-star cast. By the time the film was released to theaters, all of the convicted war criminals in real life had already been released from prison, including a few that had been sentenced to life.

During the course of the movie, prosecuting attorney Colonel Tad Lawson (Widmark) shows actual footage filmed by American soldiers after the liberation of the concentration camp, exposing the American public to the full scale of Nazi atrocities committed.

Montgomery Clift gives an Oscar-nominated performance as a German civilian baker who was sterilized by the Nazis during the war because he was considered mentally incompetent, adding to the role by looking extremely uncomfortable in discussing that part of his life.

In the end, Chief Judge Dan Haywood (Tracy) needs to decide between patriotism, namely letting the defendants off lightly to gain Germany's support during the Cold War, and justice.

Highly recommended.